Junkyard Drive - Black Coffee

Cor : The first full-length album ‘Sin & Tonic’ by Junkyard Drive still makes her spins in my stereo once in a while, so I was pretty curious about the new album. The successor has been released with the title ‘Black Coffee’; the art work is less pulp in appearance and the music is not as punky in energy. This still is sleazy hard rock in the line of bands like Crazy Lixx and others in the same direction, but maybe these youngsters are growing up fast, heading more towards Aerosmith atmospheres. This can be seen as progression; arrangements are even more well-balanced and some individual contributions by Birk on lead guitar are truly great. Also the voice of Kristian Johansen seems to be gifted with a bite like Kevin Dubow, next to his versatility and power. Despite the off-hand, freewheeling tasteful guitar contributions and the attractive fitting vocals, I can experience some tracks as a whole a bit too well thought out, compared to the spontaneous character of the debut album. This can probably also be seen as a luxury-problem, because this album can also be experienced as simply a very decent and attractive piece of work.